The Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya inaugurated ICMR-NARFBR (National Animal Resource Facility for Biomedical Research), an apex facility which will provide ethical care and use and welfare of laboratory animals during research, at Genome Valley in Hyderabad.

ICMR-NARFBR has potential to make India a key global player in biomedical research in the 21st century and play a crucial role in improving health and welfare of the nation, said Mandaviya.

“For any society to move forward, research and innovation remain a crucial aspect. India has given push to indigenous research and this is reaping benefits for us now. ICMR-NARFBR has potential to make India a key global player in Biomedical research in the 21st century. Through provision of quality services in support of biomedical research & training with adherence to highest international standards for human & ethical animal care and use, this resource facility can play a crucial role in improving health and welfare of the nation,” said Mandaviya while inaugurating ICMR-NARFBR (National Animal Resource Facility for Biomedical Research) at Genome Valley in presence of C. Malla Reddy, Minister of Labour and Employment, Telangana.

Speaking on the occasion, Mandaviya highlighted the Government's push for indigenous research and innovation.

He said “during COVID pandemic, our Hon’ble Prime Minister emphasized on making indigenous vaccines. When the world was suffering from the shortage of vaccines, India took up this challenge and our scientific community proved their mettle by creating those vaccines. When the import of foreign vaccines would have taken 5-10 years, with the political leadership’s wholehearted support and stakeholders being mobilised, India’s scientific community produced these vaccines in one year’s time.”

Significance of NARFBR can be judged from the fact that study of animals in biomedical research becomes crucial in discovering causes, diagnosis and treatment of zoonotic agents and diseases. NARFBR is an apex facility which will provide ethical care and use and welfare of laboratory animals during research. The newly built centre will work as the state-of-the-art facility for not just ethical animal studies but spans from basic, applied to regulatory animal research. It will help in capacity building of new researchers and will create processes for pre-clinical testing of new drugs, vaccines and diagnostics within the country along with quality assurance checks.    

Highlighting India’s key role as pharmacy of the world, Mandaviya said that “for every four pills made in the world, one is made in India. Thus, we now want to make India a hub not just for medicine manufacturing but for pharma research as well. For this to happen, we need to create robust processes for clinical trials which in turn require animal facilities. Hence, NARFBR will play a key role in making this vision real.” 

He was also hopeful that through inauguration of NARFBR, this step would give a boost to India’s One Health approach too.

Dr. Rajiv Bahl, Director General, ICMR and Secretary of the Department of Health Research, termed the facility to be not just best in the country but biggest in the world.

“From availability of various animals for ethical research to strengthening various processes under one umbrella, NARFBR would be an asset for the country to deal with zoonotic diseases,” added Bahl.